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Melissa Mpofu Showbiz Editor
LOCAL producers who submitted and had hoped to have their productions airing on the new DStv channel, Zambezi Magic, may have to wait a little longer as the Southern Africa entertainment channel will likely start showing their productions from October. The channel (DStv channel 160) had received a rude awakening from viewers who claimed that it was an extension of Mzansi Magic and SABC as 90 percent of its programming is from South Africa.

When the channel which was created solely with the Southern African viewer in mind launched, viewers expected to see quality programming from countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and Namibia, something Zambezi Magic head Addiel Dzinoreva said they were still working on.

“Zambezi Magic wants to be a contributing partner to the creative industries in Zimbabwe including TV and film, music and fashion. We’re still looking for complete projects to license and by that, we mean a complete feature, documentary or series,” Dzinoreva said.

“New fresh ideas are always welcome but they’ll be considered for the next financial year, starting in April.”

Local content producers who had responded to Zambezi Magic’s call for content had been left wondering if their work was sub-standard as the channel seemed to have opted for South African content.

“The content we’ve received from Zimbabwe is a tale of two extremes. It has a very high standard of production, but extremely poor standards. In both cases, the most common problem is incomplete stuff, an incomplete series, no clear beginning, middle and end,” Dzinoreva said.

He said while quality was important, what was more important to them was the story.

“Quality is important to us, but the story is more important. We understand the challenges faced by producers and we’re going to be patient with them. They must also be patient.”

Dzinoreva advised producers to give the productions their best as they were competing for space against five other countries including South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.

“As the channel grows, talent will grow and industry will grow. We’re serving at least five countries so there’ll be competition for space on the channel from other content producers from other countries. But we’ll try and make sure all voices are heard.”

All hope is not lost for local musicians who hope to penetrate international markets as Dzinoreva showed interest in playing their music on their channel. But to receive airplay from the channel, local musicians will have to join royalty collection bodies such as Zimbabwe Music Rights Association.

“We’re keen and eager to have music videos on our station. We don’t pay individual artistes to play their music videos as we deal with royalty collecting bodies such as Risa and Samro in South Africa. Musicians should make sure their publishers register their music with the respective bodies.”

With a pay off line — Sharing our stories — Zambezi Magic is looking for untold stories from comedy, drama, sci-fi, soapies and documentaries.

“We want all the productions, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’re certain we’ll get there and hope the Zimbabwe industry will be part of that journey,” Dzinoreva said.